With the government’s decision the fee which is nearly Rs 5 lakh at present will jump to Rs 19 lakh per year.

Dehradun: A protest demonstration has organized by Students of Sri Guru Ram Rai Medical college (SGRR) against the state government’s decision to allow private medical colleges to decide their own fee for MBBS and MD courses.

On Monday the last day of the Budget presentation at Gairsain, the government had approved a proposal to allow private universities in the state to decide their fee structures on their own. Nearly, 300 students gathered outside Sri Guru Ram Rai to protest against the state government’s decision, which what they felt would result in an “exorbitant” fee hike. They also submitted a written memorandum on fee issue raising the following demands:

The fees of the entire Batch -2016 should be fixed at Rs 7,32,000

The fee for the entire batch of 2017 should be fixed too in written.

The management of SGRRIM& HS should give in writing that there will be no abnormal price hike and the fixed shall be maintained as mentioned above

The incoming batches will be informed about their increment in fee at the time of admission and will never be charged further

A first-year MBBS student preferring to stay anonymous told TOI, “With the government’s decision the fee which is nearly Rs 5 lakh at present will jump to Rs 19 lakh per year. How will our parents pay that much?”

Students of Himalayan Medical College and Subharti Medical College will also be joining these students on Wednesday to give their voice to this protest.

Bhupendera Raturi, senior PRO of SGRR, told TOI, “Ever since NEET has been implemented in the country, fees of students has gone up to Rs 20 lakh. The recent decision by the Uttarakhand government and the private medical colleges’ fee regulation committee has given authority to private medical universities to decide their fee. We are calculating the new fee.”

Parents of students studying in medical colleges under the aegis of Private Medical University Joint Parents’ Association, Uttarakhand, have requested the government to cancel its move on fee. The association headed by Ravindra Jugran claimed that it went against the already laid down Supreme court directions.

In 2006, the Supreme court had directed all states to constitute a state fee regulating committee chaired by a retired judge of the High Court, to decide on fee-related matters in a balanced way. On March 12 the state fee regulating committee in Uttarakhand had approved of the government’s decision.

Meritorious students like us will naturally get admission to Govt.Medical Colleges,and the buisiness minded who want to double their money by becoming a Doctor can consider the hiked fee as the investment for future business,which the Profession has deteriorated.